1st beat Guernsey 0 - 3

By Mark Beard

Bridges bring home 3 points

Three Bridges recorded another impressive away win after beating Guernsey in a long away day. An early start was not enough to hinder the players as they put in a solid performance to take home all 3 points with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Guernsey started the better of the two sides and created a few early chances for themselves. In just the second minute a scrappy corner was eventually cleared but the ball was quickly thrown back into the mixer and a Guernsey player rose highest in a crowded 18 yard box and the ball clipped the outside of the post on its way to deny the hosts an early lead.

Bridges soon got into the stride of the game and began to settle down. Great defending from Farouq Adeshina who put in a 10/10 performance and was an easy choice for man of the match meant the ball fell kindly to Bridges who started a quick counter attack a lovely ball was spread to Ibby Akanbi who cut and curled a lovely shot into the bottom corner past Callum Stanton to put Bridges 1-0 up on 10 minutes.

It could have got so much better for Bridges as sloppy defending from the hosts saw George Gaskin become one on one with Stanton and Gaskin should have made it 2-0 just a minute after the first but Stanton did well to save low. Bridges continued to dominate the affair and made chance after chance but just couldn’t finish the chances. A few good corners whipped in by Alex Clark where headed over or cleared by the Guernsey defence.

Bridges kept pushing and pushing and eventually got the second goal and an excellent goal it was. John Ufuah used his pace to fly down the left wing away from defender Frank Tobin he reached the edge of the box wide to the left were Tobin did well to challenge but Ufuah got up quicker from the tackle took on touch out of his feet and beautifully curled his effort into the top corner. A thoroughly deserved second goal for Three Bridges.

Guernsey started the second half much better after a slow first half and made a great chance in the 55th minute but Will Fazakerley couldn’t direct a free header into the net but instead planted the ball into the chest of James Shaw. They then missed a golden opportunity to get them back into the game a good ball was whipped across the box and it fell to Thomas De La Mare who just had to tap the ball home from about 5 yards but the ball got stuck under his feet he then composed himself but Shaw did well to save the second attempt.

This was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for the home side as Bridges became even more comfortable moving the ball around nicely. But Bridges just failed to make any clear cut chances. A few good moves were played throughout the half but the final ball was lacking on almost every occasion. But in the 78th minute good determination by Adeshina saw him chopped down in the box which looked to evade the sight of the referee but luckily the linesman was on hand to flag for the spot kick. Akanbi calmly slotted the penalty away down the middle to put Bridges 3-0.

Akanbi nearly made it 4 shortly after the penalty when the ball fell loose in the box but Stanton made an excellent save to deny Ibby the hat-trick. Not that it mattered as shortly after the referee blew for full time as bridges claimed another victory seeing them rise to 10th in the table.

Bridges return to league action after Christmas when they face Whyteleafe at Jubilee Field on Saturday, 29th December in a 15:00 kick off in the last game of 2018.